AT&T keen on Verizon/Google net neutrality proposal

Reactions from the Internet business are trickling in on the Google/Verizon …

A "reasonable framework," AT&T calls the Verizon/Google net neutrality proposal. The comment came from AT&T's Ralph de la Vega, the telco's CEO for wireless, speaking at a technology and telecommunications conference in Boston yesterday. De la Vega says the company supports most of the concept.

On Monday, Verizon and Google published a set of recommendations to Congress for an open Internet law. The suggestions include exempting wireless broadband from any kind of nondiscrimination and prioritization rules, plus an exemption carve-out for "additional or differentiated services" an ISP might offer.

"It is too soon to predict how these new services will develop," both companies explained, "but examples might include health care monitoring, the smart grid, advanced educational services, or new entertainment and gaming options."

Begging the question

While the debate over this proposal over the Web has been pretty viral, only a trickle of reaction has come from companies that might be affected by these rules.

Facebook has an official statement that has been making the rounds:

"Facebook continues to support principles of net neutrality for both landline and wireless networks," the company says. "Preserving an open Internet that is accessible to innovators—regardless of their size or wealth—will promote a vibrant and competitive marketplace where consumers have ultimate control over the content and services delivered through their Internet connections."

That's not a direct commentary on the Verizon/Google concept, although this is:

"It is certainly concerning to me that there is language being used about the 'public Internet'," a former Facebook employee told The New York Times. "That begs the question about what is not the public Internet."

Meanwhile Barry Diller of IAC has called the plan a sham. The proposal "doesn't preserve 'net neutrality,' full stop, or anything like it," he commented to the Times.

Diller, who worked with Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski for a spell back in Genachowski's dot-com days, is also a member of the Open Internet Coalition—a consortium of companies and public interest groups that support net neutrality.

The coalition includes Facebook, IAC, eBay, Netflix, and Google, as well as various public interest groups. OIC hasn't published a statement on the Google/Verizon proposal on its website, although an interview with Diller on the concept is front and center.

Does not alleviate

As for those public interest groups, over two dozen of them released a statement this morning urging Genachowski to pretty much ignore the Google/Verizon proposal and forge ahead with his plan to partially classify ISPs as common carriers.

"The Google/Verizon announcement does not in any way alleviate the need for the Commission to act to protect consumers, small businesses, students, creators, innovators, investors and others that depend on an open, vibrant Internet," their letter to the FCC declared.

No word yet on what the FCC is going to do about all this. Only one Commissioner, Michael Copps, has released an official statement on the proposal, and he's against it.

"Some will claim this announcement moves the discussion forward," Copps declared. "That's one of its many problems. It is time to move a decision forward—a decision to reassert FCC authority over broadband telecommunications, to guarantee an open Internet now and forever, and to put the interests of consumers in front of the interests of giant corporations."

Matthew Lasar / Matt writes for Ars Technica about media/technology history, intellectual property, the FCC, or the Internet in general. He teaches United States history and politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz.